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Joe Biden Condemns Trump’s “Abuse of Power” as Electoral College Affirms His Win

HeadlineDec 15, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden officially won the Electoral College Monday, as electors met in their respective state capitals to formalize his victory, even as President Trump continued to claim without evidence he was the victim of a massive conspiracy to rig the election.

In Lansing, Michigan, authorities closed the state Capitol and surrounding buildings after receiving credible threats of violence. Michigan Republican lawmakers sanctioned GOP state Representative Gary Eisen after he suggested he was part of a group seeking to disrupt the Electoral College vote and refused to rule out the possibility of violence.

In Arizona, Electoral College members met in a secret location after 11 Democratic electors received threats.

Wisconsin’s Electoral College members were told to enter the state Capitol through an unmarked side door amid similar threats of violence. Wisconsin Republicans refused to accept Biden’s victory and met separately at the state Capitol to select what they called an “alternate slate” of electors casting votes for Trump.

In Delaware, President-elect Joe Biden called a Republican effort to overturn the election results by 17 state attorneys general — and backed by 126 Republican congressmembers — an “unprecedented assault on our democracy.”

President-elect Joe Biden: “In America, politicians don’t take power; people grant power to them. The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power, can extinguish that flame.”

Biden’s speech came as several top Republican senators publicly accepted Trump’s loss for the first time.

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